Thanks a lot, Quentin and Tom! this is too much information, will again try it later, thanks for all these comments! ... View more

This is the results: no %put in %macro test2 (got a error message), has %local statement in %macro test3 (nothing changed the result is 2): has %put in macro test2 (no error message); has %local in macro test3 (nothing changed the result is 2); thanks a lot for all your comments, Tom, but are you sure about your comments, or you just want me to try something out for you, why is %local statement is so important to you and need to bring it up, I do not understand ... View more

I cannot access github btw ... View more

This is too much information, could you summarize the usage of %local statement for example using no more than 4 simple bullet points, thanks a lot ... View more

with the %local statement: there is still a warning message (because the global macro &count which had the value of 100 was deleted), but the results are good (titles were correct): I still do not get why is the %local statement necessary here in the macro storms, btw, because even without it the storms macro runs correctly all the time and after adding it some mass was produced %macro storms(list); %local count i yr; %let count=%sysfunc(countw(&list)); %do i=1 %to &count; %let yr=%scan(&list,&i); title "&yr Storms"; proc means data=mc1.storm_final n min mean max maxdec=0; var MaxWindMPH MinPressure; where season=&yr; run; %end; %mend storms; %storms(2011 2012 2014); %let count=100; %storms(2011 2012 2014); %put &count; %symdel count; %storms(2011 2012 2014); %put &count;   ... View more

Is this (see below) what you and Tom want me to try? Without the %local statement: got a warning message (&count cannot resolve) and something massed up with the report title(the 2011 one becomes 2014, which is not correct): %macro storms(list); *%local count i yr; %let count=%sysfunc(countw(&list)); %do i=1 %to &count; %let yr=%scan(&list,&i); title "&yr Storms"; proc means data=mc1.storm_final n min mean max maxdec=0; var MaxWindMPH MinPressure; where season=&yr; run; %end; %mend storms; %storms(2011 2012 2014); %let count=100; %storms(2011 2012 2014); %put &count; %symdel count; %storms(2011 2012 2014); %put &count; ... View more

Thanks a lot for your suggestion, I tried some thing like this (see below) after read again in the learning material the section (p174 of the PDF) on %local and %global statements. I tested the code below in windowing (base 9.4) environment (this does not make anything different btw just somehow feel like to mention it for no reason). Will try other examples later. ... View more

Hi Tom, (I do not know if I understand your comments correctly, it looks like the %local statement is for retaining a macro variable value only for the current use and prevent it from overwriting a previously created macro variable value that has the same macro name, am I right or wrong?) the material did not left out the %local statement and has section and questions for it, I have not get to there yet, because I personally would like to learn write a simple and useful macro (according to what I would like to produce) first, and then learn storing, re-using macros, and etc. alike contents, and thus I omitted the several questions about the %local and %global statements at the moment and will learn it later. ... View more

Hi Tom, thanks a lot for your feedback, but I am not sure I understand your steps correctly or not, below is what I run and the output, there is no difference in this output and the output of that one without the %local statement. For my second question, I think what I asked was: for what scenario the %let i=%eval(&i+1); statement is useful and necessary, because for any list of strings or numbers, we can use select distinct var into :list; and &sqlobs or call symputx(xxx, yyy); or the countw() function to decide how many times the %do loop run. %macro storms(list); %local count i yr; %let count=%sysfunc(countw(&list)); %do i=1 %to &count; %let yr=%scan(&list,&i); title "&yr Storms (local count)"; proc means data=mc1.storm_final n min mean max maxdec=0; var MaxWindMPH MinPressure; where season=&yr; run; %end; %mend storms; %let count=100; %storms(2011 2012 2014); %put &count; ... View more

I agree with you on this point that when writing a macro is not necessary then do not use macro, when a macro is necessary then use macro and do not use other procedures. There is another question (m105a04) in the material on the PDF's page 262, the solution of which was to produce separate tables for different levels (categories) of a variable, and a cat() statement in a sql step was used to split the table (and this serves as the first step of producing separate TFLs for different levels of a variable), the code and output are as follows (BTW: in the demo m105d04 next to the question, the code was indeed developed to a macro, which I tried several times and was not able to run through, perhaps due to the difficulty in debugging (for both the cat() statement and the case when then; statement in the subsequent data step which was intended to produce separate datasets): %let tab=sashelp.cars; %let col=Origin; proc sql; select distinct &col from &tab; select distinct cat('when ("', &col, '") output ', &col) from &tab; quit; In the above code, the character string in the cat() statement consumes a lot of eyesight and detailed attention to type it. The more important issue is that I think this is a question which can be properly (and more appropriately) solved through a macro (there are other questions and sections for this type of macro in the material though, btw), i.e., a macro here is necessary (BTW, here as I mentioned in last paragraph, I made a mistake here - the code was indeed developed into a macro, yet which possibly may cost a lot debugging) . However, I guess the cat() statement here in the solution code for this question is to let leaners know that some steps in the macro can be replaced by the cat() statement, i.e., a possible usage of the cat() function and cat() statements in a sql step. The macro that I think can properly solve the question and the output are as follows (BTW: the code below  was generated according to the solution code on page 286 of the PDF for another question, m105p01, as the reference code, which uses a proc print; step instead of proc sql; select * from; statement). A further step of consideration may be adding in the create table &xxx as to name the different datasets according to their respective categories/levels of that variable. %macro splittable(tab,col); proc sql; select distinct &col into :cat1- from &tab; quit; %do i=1 %to &sqlobs; proc sql outobs=2; select * from &tab where &col="&&cat&i"; quit; %end; %mend splittable; %splittable(sashelp.cars,origin); ... View more

Hi Tom, I have two further questions: 1) could you come up with an example (base on the code in my post) that use %local statement, and 2) explain a bit more on how the %let i=%eval(&i+1); statement work in the code in my post? Many thanks! ... View more

Thanks a lot for your comments! I tested your examples and somehow got something like this (see below). I have three questions: 1) it looks like the %cmpres function is not necessary (at least in my example), if I run the %cmpres statement I got error message; 2) if I want to clean up whitespace characters the function to be use is compbl (I do not know how this function is written when it is a macro function), not compress, am I right or wrong? 3) this question is not relevant, how can I make the code posted here colored? (after I post THIS message I found it is colored somehow, however, the code in my previous post were not) %let yrlist=%nrstr(2010 % 2012 2014,2016 2018 & 2019); *%let yrlist=%cmpres(&yrlist,'%,&'); *%put &yrlist; %let nyrs=%sysfunc(countw(&yrlist,' %,&')); %put &nyrs;   ... View more

There are sections and questions about %local statement in the material. In fact, while doing the question I tried to use %local statement inside the macro but did not run through (as using %local statement inside a macro makes the macro a lot more complicated, will try it later). ... View more

Thanks a lot for your comments, I think it's a very good point that use macro (or any other advanced and complex procs and steps) only when it is necessary. However, I really do NOT think that question (as well as the solution) in the lesson was poorly designed, as 1) the learning material was to cover a lot of important contents of macro, and it was also designed for test preparation and had to include all the knowledge and techniques in the exam content guide, and therefore 2) while design the material, (I guess) the course developer was intended to integrate as much as possible contents in one question, and this makes the solution code complicated, and 3) besides the macro part of the built-in base 9.4 guide (SAS 9.4 macro language reference), as a new learner I think Macro1:Essential is the good official learning material I can find now.   For that question in my post, what made the solution code complex was the %let i=%eval(&i+1); statement, which now I guess was perhaps exactly what the material developer wanted learners to comprehend (which is not easy, e.g. how the two repeated %let i=; and %let yr=; statements work) , because that statement is used in a lot of scenarios when there is a do loop inside a macro. ... View more